Handmade shoes for people with diabetes

Bill Bird Shoes has been helping people with diabetes care for their feet for many years by crafting handmade footwear that is soft and supportive with minimal seams.

Diabetes develops very differently in each person and it also changes over time. The Bill Bird Shoes team, based in Blockley in the Cotswolds and Grey Flannel in central London, will assess your footwear needs based on the recommendations of your medical professionals. Rest assured that we can create excellent quality shoes in a range of styles and shoe shapes to accommodate your condition and preferences – ensuring that wearing our shoes will be a pleasure.

Please call us now on 01386 700855 for more information or email us by clicking here.

Diabetes facts and figures

In the UK today some 10% of the population has diabetes – with the vast majority having type 2. The number of people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is increasing and around 700 people a day are diagnosed with diabetes – that’s the equivalent of one person every two minutes. It is estimated that there are some 1.1 million people in the UK who have diabetes that has not yet been diagnosed.

Diabetes and your feet

If you are reading this page, you probably have first hand experience of this condition and have started to notice it affecting your feet. If you do have diabetes, you may have:

Fragile skin

Nerve damage

Swollen feet

Unusually shaped feet

People with either type of diabetes can be much more at risk of infection and ulceration of the feet. While you may not be suffering all of these symptoms at the moment it is wise to anticipate for them now in your footwear.

Diabetes puts your feet at risk for the following reasons;

The arteries supplying your feet with fresh blood can become clogged.

The nerves in your feet, which give feeling and which help control movement become damaged.

Toe nails and callouses become abnormally hard and brittle and can cause ulceration in underlying tissues.

The immune system becomes much less effective particularly in the feet leaving them open to infection.

The small blood vessels in the skin of your feet become impaired leading to reduced ability to perspire and to maintain a healthy temperature.

Some 15% of people with diabetes will have an amputation that’s preventable – most often part of a foot or the foot in its entirety.